Accused Vic flatmate killer faces court

In the hours after 65-year-old Donald Brandenburg died in his east Melbourne flat, the man accused of killing him allegedly told his sister and several friends that he'd done it in self-defence.

Troy Simon Burns, 46, had lived with Mr Brandenburg in the single bedroom Ashwood flat for several years, sometimes with Song Cousland, who was Burns' girlfriend and Mr Brandenburg's former flame.

Burns sat stony faced and looking at the floor in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday in a committal hearing where magistrate Belinda Wallington will determine if there's enough evidence for him to stand trial for Mr Brandenburg's murder.

Rachel Burn told the court she'd received a call from her brother on August 3 last year and Burns told her he'd killed the older man in self-defence.

Prosecutors claim Burns beat Mr Brandenburg until he died, put his body in a chair and a carving knife in his hand and covered him with a doona.

Court documents allege Burns also left a voicemail for a friend that night saying he had "accidentally killed Don who had been holding a knife to Song's throat", and text another friend to say "I've killed someone in self-defence".

In a text two days earlier to another friend, Burns is alleged to have said he "found Song in bed with Don not long ago" and was "going to chop (Mr Brandenburg's) balls off that night" until someone stopped him.

Ms Gleeson and her aunt Astrid Brandenburg had discussed trying to move their father and brother out of the house and into an aged care home before he died, but he'd resisted the idea.

They were concerned about how Burns treated him, including assaulting him and taking his bank cards.

Ms Gleeson said her father told her Burns had bashed him, and Ms Brandenburg said her brother once stayed with her after Burns punched him in the chest. She said he'd become a different man.

"He became rather nervous, too scared to basically be himself," she said.

"He was not the brother I knew."

Neighbours also gave evidence. Phyllis Brock said she cleaned up Mr Brandenburg's injuries once after he told her Burns had assaulted him, while Tanya Lombardi said she'd heard Mr Brandenburg angrily muttering that he was "going to f*** kill someone" the day he died.